Hamburg, Farragut must seal off old buildings

The Iowa Department of Education earlier this month gave the individual Farragut and Hamburg school districts “conditional accreditation”, meaning that there will not be any forced dissolution, at least for another year. KMA stories: Farragut, Hamburg.

However, it appears that at least part of that “condition” requires closing down the old Hamburg school building (which had been planned), and also Farragut’s elementary and vocational buildings, all because they do not meet Americans With Disabilities Act requirements. In Hamburg’s case, for example, that includes not having “a van accessible [parking] space with a 96” wide access aisle” and “a plan to deal with all inaccessibility issues on all levels of the 1924 building.” Reports can be found via the links above.

In Farragut, this issue is going to be tricky because everything is at one site and is interconnected. I am not familiar with the school to say which part has been used as the elementary. In Hamburg, where the elementary and old high school/Nishnabotna Middle School (for two more months) are separate, the lockdown order is tight and irreversible (excerpt from report p. 19):

No portion of the Hamburg Middle School other than the kitchen may be used for any purpose, and all other areas must be rendered unusable for purposes other than cold storage. Entry to the Hamburg Middle School kitchen area must be restricted to kitchen staff and delivery personnel only for the duration necessary to operate the facility for the purpose of food preparation. Entry to all other portions of the building must be restricted to the facilities manager, janitor, superintendent, and a realtor as needed for the purpose of showing the property to prospective buyers.

The Farragut school board voted earlier this month for construction to make other areas of its buildings ADA-compliant to retain accreditation.

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